Not Done With You Yet
by Alexandrea Darkin
Summary: Buffy gets attacked on patrol and it's up to Spike and the rest of the Scooby Gang to find a way to save her before it's to late. What will Spike be willing to do to save her and will Buffy be able to come to terms with the only solution to her near death experience? I own nothing but my own creative twists to this complex world of chaos and trampled emotions.


Not Done With You

Buffy / Spike Fan Fic

It had just started raining as he stomped through the cemetery the grass crunching under his boots. He took a final drag from his cigarette and ground the burning tip against a tombstone as he passed. He had done the entire patrol on his own expecting to find her lurking in the darkness at one of their usual haunts but he hadn't caught one single sight of her anywhere. It wasn't like her to ignore her duties no matter how headstrong and stubborn she wanted to be. Their last patrol ended in a fight which was nothing unusual, but as she had him pinned to the ground with a stake to his chest she kissed him. Before he could right himself she had ran out of the crypt leaving him to sort out the confusion. Now she was avoiding him instead of pretending it never happened like she normally would. A few feet from his crypt he stopped, his hand sliding in the pocket of his duster to wrap around a well-used stake. He could smell blood and it was fresh. Something else lingered in the air, something foul and sour smelling that screamed demon. A piercing scream tore through the silence of the night and he shook himself from his thoughts. "Bloody Hell!" he growled as he ran for the crypt throwing open the door.

"Spike!" Willow called out to him as he stared frozen in place at the scene before him. "Thank God. I was beginning to think…"

"What the bloody hell is going on, Red?" Spike roared as he charged across the room noticing for the first time the writhing body on the lid of the sarcophagus.

"Demon got her outside the Bronze." Giles explained as he struggled to hold Buffy still. Spike could see the blood soaking her shirt and staining the floor of the crypt. How long had they been here?

"Bloody hell, Luv." Spike breathed as he moved her hands to see the gaping wound carved into her stomach. "Nearly gutted you it did."

"Spike," Her voice was quiet and laced with pain as she met his eyes. "It hurts…burns…"

"I know, pet." He said as he smoothed her hair away from her face seeing the scratches that dug into her neck and chest. "Just hang on. I'll find a way to set you back to rights. I promise."

"She refused the hospital." Giles sighed as he removed his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. "The wound should have sealed itself by now but it isn't healing. As a matter of fact it is getting worse."

"We've been searching these books for the last hour." Xander huffed as he slammed a book closed and stood. "How are we supposed to find this thing when Buffy and Dawn were the only ones to have seen it?"

"Where is she?" Spike snapped as a new wave of panic set in. He tried to block the horrible thoughts that consumed his mind but there was only so much shock he could process in one night. "Where is the Little Bit?" He growled when no one answered.

"Library." Willow answered as Spike breathed a sigh of relief. "She's searching the archives for the demon."

Suddenly, Spike charged across the room grabbed Xander by the shirt and shoved him out the open crypt door. "Go and make sure nothing comes after her. If the Bit so much as gets a paper cut on your watch I will drain you dry and personally dust you myself when you rise, right?"

"You can't do that." Xander smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Chip. Remember. Owwwwwww…..owwwww….Pain." Xander mocked him as he danced around the outside of the crypt.

"The two minutes of bloody pain I would have to deal with would be worth it." Spike snapped back as she glared at Xander. "Believe me on that, mate."

Willow jumped as he slammed the door and stormed across the room tossing his duster across a chair and picking up the book Xander had been flipping through. "What kind of demon are we looking for?"

"Poison demon." Giles sighed as he took up the book he had been searching as Spike returned to his position at Buffy's side. "An orange slimy type of poison. Never seen it before. We were hoping you had seen something like it."

"Make it stop, Spike." Buffy's voice was a shadow of itself as she reached up and gripped his shirt in her fist. He closed his eyes and fought for control over his emotions. At one time he had wanted to hear the Slayer begging for her life, but now she sounded so desperate and hopeless that it made his stomach churn. "Please."

"Buffy, luv…just hold on." He barely recognized his own voice as he opened his eyes and saw her staring at him with fear etched into her eyes. Death had always been the Slayers' destiny. It was their gift to the world or so the prophecy said. He had seen to that twice in his existence but now all he wanted to do was stop time. He refused to believe in all that nonsense now. They were just words on a piece of paper that meant nothing to him as he stared down at her tears. "We'll fix you up. Stay with me you hear. I'm not done with you yet, Slayer." He had hoped his taunting would have brought the spark back into her eyes but she only shook her head at him.

"There isn't time." He froze as she tried to pull him closer to her Willow gasped behind him somewhere. "You promised you would be the one to do it, Spike. The pain's burning me alive. I can't do this. Please, Spike… just end it…"

"Bloody hell, Pet." Spike breathed as he felt his knees go weak. He had heard people beg for their lives at his hands before but now she was asking him to … "Bollocks!" He growled as he met her eyes. "You're spitting bollocks you hear me. You gotta be out of your soddin' skull if you think…I will not let you die by my hand or any other tonight."

"If you loved me you would end this torture, Spike!" she screamed as her body bowed with the pain and her fingers clawed at his chest.

Spike could feel the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he leaped onto the lid of the sarcophagus and pulled her into his lap her head resting on his chest. "Look at me, luv." Spike said calmly despite the way his insides twisted into a knot. "I do love you. You see that's why I can't kill you. Not won't, Slayer…but can't. Never could if you think 'bout it. You gotta help us find this thing so we can fix you, pet."

The minutes ticked by and page after page turned in a desperate rush against time. Buffy had stopped screaming but the pain didn't stop coming. Her body shook with the effort of keeping her suffering to herself, her skin almost as cold as his even after he covered her in his duster and he could see the fight fading from her eyes a little at a time.

"I'm sorry, Spike." Buffy whispered as she turned her eyes from the pages of the book in his hands to stare up at his face.

"For what, pet?" Spike asked quietly as he blinked down at her. Her head rested still rested against his chest but her eyes were on his face now. There were so many things running through his mind that he dared not focus on any of them at the moment.

"Everything," She sighed as she they stared at each other. "All the lies, the fights, the broken noses…"

"You're the Slayer, Luv." Spike chuckled as he offered her a smile that he really didn't mean. It was hard to be the big brave guy when he was staring down at her now. "I wouldn't have expected anything less from you, right?"

"Doesn't make it right, Spike." She tried to smile. "Haven't been trying to kill you for a while. Don't tell Giles but I think he may be right about me yet."

"Don't go gettin' all sappy on me now, pet." Spike bit out through clenched teeth. "Sayin' things you're gonna regret in the morning and all. Only thing you bloody well have to apologize for is tryin' to leave us here to train another Slayer. You think I give out free dancing lessons to every Slayer that comes down the line?"

"Thanks, Spike." She sighed as her eyes drifted closed for a second before she opened them tears falling down her cheeks as she turned her face back to the pages in the book. Spike chanced a glance at Giles and Willow where they sat on the crypt floor flipping through more books. Giles shook his head as Spike opened his mouth to ask what Buffy was going on about and he shut it without saying a word. There would be time for that later. Spike was a little over half way through the book when Buffy twisted in his lap, knocking the book out of his hands as poison and blood spewed from her mouth. The smell was worse than before and it took everything in him to keep down the blood he had taken earlier on patrol. Spike wrapped his arms around her shaking body careful of her wounds and cursed as he held her as tight as he dared against him. He was losing her without ever really having her and it was ripping out what was left of his heart.

Why did they only get the chance to get close to one another when one of them was facing death? If they didn't find this demon soon she didn't stand a chance. "Spike," Her voice was barely above a whisper now and he shivered against her as he prepared himself for the dreaded question again. He didn't know how much longer he could deny the truth to himself. "That's it. That's the demon."

Spike's eyes flew open and he leaned over the edge of the sarcophagus to stare at the book which had landed face up on the floor. "Are you sure, luv?" He asked as he grabbed the book and read over the page as Giles and Willow ran to them. "Deathclaw demon." He sighed as he handed the book to Giles. "Nasty bugger from the looks of it. Poison claws and teeth that devour prey from the inside out." Spike unfolded himself from under Buffy hearing her whimper of protest as he stood. "I know how to set you right, pet." He smiled as he leaned close to her face. "You gotta trust me."

"I trust you…Spike." Buffy whispered as she watched him with curious eyes. "Have for a while now…."

"I know, Luv." He smiled as he pulled a small knife from his pocket ignoring Willow's gasp of surprise. "Just had to hear it." Spike hissed as he drew the blade across his wrist. "You won't like it, pet…but it's the only way." As Buffy opened her mouth to object he covered it with his wrist, the blood spilling onto her tongue. Her body jerked as she gripped his arm trying to pull his wrist away but she didn't have the strength to push him away this time. A thought entered his mind as her struggling faded and she met his eyes. What would the two Slayers he had killed before think of him now as he spilled his own blood to save a Slayer? What did he think of himself? Nothing mattered so long as she made it through the night and kept on living. He couldn't handle being without her in the world again.

He felt his face shift as he leaned closer to Buffy. Her eyes never leaving his as she prepared herself for what she knew was coming. "Spike!" He heard Dawn's voice echo off the crypt walls as the door flew open. "What are you doing?!"

"Don't let her watch." Spike growled as Giles turned away from him. Buffy made a small sound against his wrist, nothing more than the ghost of a whisper, as his fangs sank into her neck. It was the only way to save her and he wasn't sure Dawn would understand. His body revolted at the taste of her blood. No longer sweet and heavenly, it was tainted with the foul poison that burned as he swallowed it. His mind screamed at him to stop, pull his fangs out and get away but he ignored it. Dawn was screaming his name somewhere in the distance, or was she right beside him? Suddenly, everything was thrown out of focus, his stomach lurched and he tore himself from Buffy's throat with a groan, blood spilling out of his mouth as he gagged and his legs gave out under him. "Bollocks…" He mumbled as he felt his head bounce off the floor. The last thing he remembered was the sound of footsteps echoing around him and Buffy's whisper of his name.

He could hear the thunder rolling but it was nothing compared to the pounding in his skull or the rolling in his stomach. He groaned as he opened his eyes snapping them shut again as the bright light made his stomach lurch again. "Spike," Chancing the sickness again he cracked his eyes open to find Dawn sitting on the bed beside him her hands busy with the wet rag she was dabbing his face with.

It took a moment for him to realize he wasn't in his crypt anymore and longer to realize he was in Buffy's room the cool air from her open window ghosting over his skin. He should have been trying to cover his exposed chest given the way Dawn was looking at him but he simply didn't have the energy, besides it wasn't the first time she had seen him without a shirt on. "Hey, Bite Size." He whispered his voice thick as he saw her smile down at him. At least she wasn't trying to dust him.

"I was starting to think you weren't going to come back." Dawn said as she avoided his eyes this time. A blush was staining her cheeks and she took longer than necessary to ring out the rag in clean water before turning back to him.

"Been a while has it?" He asked as he swallowed the foul taste in his mouth and did his best to not gag.

"Couple days." Dawn shrugged as he tried to sit up but her hands on his shoulders and the shake of her head stopped him. He followed her eyes to where Buffy laid with her head on his chest her arm thrown over his stomach. A sigh escaped his lips as he let his head fall back against the pillow. He no longer had any desire to move and doubted he could have found the strength anyway.

"How is she?" Spike asked with genuine concern as he met Dawn's shining eyes.

"Healing." Dawn smiled as she laid the cool rag against his head again. "Thanks to you. You know…For a big bad slayer of Slayers you always seem to be around with exactly what she needs to survive. How did you know your blood would work, Spike? Giles said it wasn't in the book."

"Stupid Gint didn't read the rest of the bleedin' page did he?" Spike would have rolled his eyes but he feared the sickness would get worse. "The poison of a Deathclaw demon cannot kill a vampire. We're already dead, right. Just makes us pretty soddin' sick for a while. Had to get some of it outta her before my blood could work…weaken the poison."

"You knew it would do this to you and you did it anyway?" Dawn asked as she stared down at him.

"Yeah." Spike sighed as he closed his eyes not wanting to think about what could have happened if he had been any later on patrol that night. "Imma glutton for punishment what can I say?"

"Thanks, Spike." Dawn said quietly as she kissed his cheek and climbed to her feet ignoring the surprised look he gave her. "For everything."

"Don't mention it." He tried for arrogance but didn't have the energy. "Especially to her and 'specially 'bout the blood part. She don't remember it she can't dust me for it."

"You gotta be out of your soddin' skull." He heard his words come back to him in Buffy'weak voice as it drifted up from his chest in a horrible imitation of a British accent that brought a true smile to his face. So she did remember her near death experience. "I'm not quite done with you either, Spike." She didn't have to look up for him to know she was smiling.

"Glad to hear it, Kitten." Spike chuckled as he closed his eyes against the raging sickness threatening to take him over again and tightened his arms around her body as sleep pulled him under.

11


End file.
